Chiefs QB Pat Mahomes Topples Tom Brady as Top Seller of NFL Merchandise 

(Bloomberg) -- Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes hasn’t just supplanted New England’s Tom Brady as the AFC champion quarterback -- he’s toppled the veteran superstar as the NFL’s top salesman.

Mahomes, whose Chiefs will face the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl on Feb. 2 in Miami, has moved into the No. 1 position on the NFL Players Association’s list of top selling players, the union said.

Mahomes, in his third season, is positioned to become this season’s new pro football retail king when the final NFLPA Top 50 Player Sales list is released in April. That means football fans are scrambling to get apparel, hats and other merchandise with his name and number on it.

Brady, a 20-year veteran with a record six Super Bowl championships, has finished the past two seasons atop the list. He’s currently No. 2. The 42-year-old’s long-held dominance includes a record 17 consecutive appearances in the top three since the union began the list in 2014, and he’s never ranked outside the top nine.

Rounding out the top five are Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott, Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield and his wide receiver teammate Odell Beckham Jr.

The sales list includes merchandise sold from online and traditional outlets, including Nike Inc. and Fanatics. Product categories include video games, jerseys, backpacks, wall decals and bobble heads.

More broadly, this season’s Super Bowl merchandise is more popular than ever.

The Chiefs and 49ers combined to set a sales record on conference championship Sunday, according to Fanatics founder Michael Rubin.

He said the teams sold more than 2 1/2 times the merchandise of last year’s teams -- the Patriots and Los Angeles Rams -- and topped the record set by the Patriots and Eagles two years ago.

Rubin didn’t disclose specific sales figures.

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Soshnick in New York at ssoshnick@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Sam Nagarajan

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